Saturday, May 31, 2014

I had 2 games this week.On Monday at Falkirk and District Wargames club Dave Paterson and I
played a Black Powder AWI game using my collection of figures.Dave commanded the Patriot force below:

1st Brigade

2 Militia units

Militia skirmishers (small unit)

2nd Brigade

Continental unit

Militia unit

Continental riflemen (small unit)

Dave advancing the Patriot forces

Whilst I commanded a force of British troops who were
blockading a small settlement who were awaiting the arrival of the Patriot relief
column.

1st Brigade

71st Highlanders

Butlers Rangers (small unit)

Canadian militia (small unit)

2nd Brigade

3 Indian skirmishing bands (small units)

The terrain on the 6ft by 4ft table was largely wooded with
the open areas designated by snake fencing.All the commanders were rated at level 8.It proved a victory for the British and
Indians who managed to break 4 of the 6 patriot units without losing a single
unit.

Patriots engaging the British in the open ground.

On Thursday at the SESWC I took part in a 1940 Bolt Action
game which Campbell Hardie designed.It
was due to beFrench delaying action
versus a German force but Campbell forgot the German infantry who had to be
substituted by Italians but using the German transport and armour.Bart Zynda and Ray Neal commanded the axis
troops and Colin Jack and I commanded the French.Campbell umpired and provided all the models..

Axis light armour takes on the Senegalese

It was hard fought game with the Germans concentrating on
dealing with the best French troops – squads of Alpine Chasseurs and Senegalese
infantry.The French with a 25mm AT
gun,obsolete Laffley White and Citroen
Schneider ACs managed to knock out the Geman SD222, Panzer II and one of the
SD251s.The Italians managed to get a
105mm how into range of the building held by the French recruits but it was
suppressed by fire from the armoured cars.A reinforcing squad of dragon
portes took out an Italian squad and
then assaulted the 105mm How – amazingly the 10 attackers scored only 1 hit and
the 3 surviving gunners scored 2 hits wiping out their opponents. That was the low point of my game. Despite this debacle we agreed that the game was clearly a victory
for the French.

Anything designed to encourage interesting blogs, and bring
them to the attention of a much wider audience, has to be a good thing and thus
I am passing on the baton, so to speak.

Here is the list of
what's involved.

•Copy and paste the award on your blog linking to the
blogger who has given it to you.

•Pass the award to your top 11 blogs with less than 200
followers by leaving a comment one of their posts to notify them that they have
won the award and listing them on your own blog.

•Sit back and bask in the warm fuzzy feeling that comes that
knowing you have made someones day!

•There is no obligation to pass this onto someone else but
it's nice if you take the time to do so.

In addition to "flagging up" those blogs that
would be well worth having a look at from time to time it also provides an
opportunity to answer and pass on some questions about the blogger behind the
blog. The questions you have been dying to ask but have never got around to
posting. So as well as answering these myself, I will be passing them on to my
nominees.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

This has been a week of French Indian War Muskets and
Tomahawk games as I was trying out the rules again before a big game I had planned for
Thursday.Most of the figures in the
games come from the collection of Angus Konstam which he kindly lent me
whilst he is staying in Orkney.

On Sunday Dave Paterson, Dougie Kirby and I played a game on
a 6ft by 6ft area of my table.Dave and
I were commanding a force of French Irregulars and Indians attacking a British
settlement held by British Regulars, Rangers with a column of Militia marching
on in support.It proved to be a British
victory as the Franco-Indian morale broke.

French allied Indians snipe at the British defenders

On Monday at Falkirk and District Wargames Club Dave Paterson,
Dougie Kirby, Kevan Bowman and I played
a game on a 6ft by 4ft.It was a variant
of the Sunday game in which I replaced the Militia with more Rangers.Dave and I commanded the British defenders
and Kevan and Dougie the French Irregulars and Indians.My Rangers engaged Kevan’s Irregulars in a
long range duel in the woods whilst sadly Dave’s Regulars were shot to pieces
by Dougie’s Indians and Kevan’s Coureurs des Bois.The morale of the British force broke after less
than 90 minutes play!

British regulars start to wilt under the Indian fire - keep the firing line men!

On Thursday I went to Hugh Wilson’s for our big game.Hugh had converted his Vietnam river terrain
into a FIW wonderland with a British fort (mine), a port with a sailing ship, 5 settlements
and an Indian village (Colin Jacks) and lots of canoes and boats.

Tim and Donald defending the British central settlements and the vital port - smiling at this point.

Bart Zynda, Donald Adamson, Tim Watson, and Ray Neal commanded the British
and Colonial forces – 3 Regular units, 3 Ranger units, 6 Militia units plus 5 civilians
in each settlement.Colin Jack, Campbell
Hardie, Dave O’Brien and Hugh Wilson commanded the French forces – 2 Regular
units, 3 Irregular units, 3 allied Indians and 3 savage Indians.I umpired.For this game Colin supplied the Indians and the Civilians.The French objective was to destroy the
settlements, fort, port and generally instil terror into the countryside.The British were all deployed on the table
and the French entered from the north side.

On their left the French Irregulars under Campbell engaged Ray’s militia in a firefight covering
their Coureurs Des Bois as they swam the
river and scaled the mighty cliff to rout a unit of militia before burning the nearby
settlement.Ray tried to bring his other
2 militia into action to retake the settlement but one of them suffered 5 out
of 6 as casualties to the Irregulars and broke and fled.His other unit withdrew towards the fort.

Bart held 2 of his British units back at the fort and only
had his Highlanders forward who engaged Colin’s French regulars across the river at long range
but their supporting fire could not save the settlement that the civilised French
Europeans burnt to the ground. Bart has now written a report on this game at his blog:http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/muskets-tomahawks-big-game.html

British regulars including the elite grenadiers massed at the fort

In the French centre and left Hugh and Dave’s Indians simply
ran amuck destroying a settlement and the Indian village on their side of the
river and 2 units of Tim’s supporting militia.Using their canoes they crossed the river and drove of Donald’s Ranger
riflemen defending the sailing ship which they then set alight.Hugh’s savage Indians pressed on and
destroyed Tim’s last militia unit and yet another settlement.Some British friendly Indians arrived to
avenge their burning village but Tim had no luck with them either and the
savage Indians drove them of the table.The game ended at that point.It
was clearly a French and Indian Allies victory – they destroyed 4 settlements,
the Indian village and burnt the sailing ship to the waterline and inflicted
much heavier losses on their opponents than they suffered.

Hugh and Dave's Indians storm the sailing ship held by a unit of Donald's Ranger riflemen

﻿

Burning friendly Indian camp - in distance the sailing ship burns down and explodes!

As before Colin Jack and Dave O’Brien provided most of the
figures.Colin provided the scenario and
the Vietnam buildings whilst Hugh Wilson built the excellent terrain.We used the rules I developed for a Vietnam
game last year plus the rule changes we adopted after our first game.Campbell Hardie, Hugh Wilson and I commanded
the Vietnamese troops and Ray Neal, Bart Zynda and Tim Watson the US forces.
Colin Jack umpired.

The devious Q junk

The NVA and the VC are blockading a US firebase and infiltrating
the local villages.The US players have
to defend the firebase, get a relief/supply convoy thru by road to the base,
control the river traffic to prevent arms reaching the VC and pacify the
villages.Quite a set of objectives but
they have lots of equipment.

2nd Relief column now with flank cover

Again my VC forces were assigned to block the north road whilst Campbell’s
and Hugh’s troops all engaged the firebase.Bart commanding the 2nd relief column adopted a more cautious
approach from the first evening with infantry sweeping thru the jungle on both
sides of the road.I lost 2 squads to
take out an Aussie squad.My third squad
managed to re-occupy a village after the column had passed as Bart had not left
a garrison behind.The attack on the
firebase was hard fought.A disguised Q
junk moored at the wharf and opened up on the base.It also managed to set fire to a US river
monitor before succumbing to massed fire.

River monitor ablaze

Vietnamese infantry made massed attacks on the firebase supported by
armour.Their 2 tanks managed to KO a M48
but were both lost.At the end the VC
had taken most of the base but one small section of the garrison were holding
out supported by 2 tanks.They even heroically called down an airstrike
by a Canberra on the camp.Tragically
it mainly effected the defenders.The US
helicopters were busy providing fire support, rescuing downed pilots and evacuating
casualties.

Burning armour

At the end the game was declared a VC minor victory as they had
retaken a village and almost captured the camp though the relief column was
getting close.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

This Saturday I went to the Falkirk Wargames
Club's show Carronade 2014. I supported the SESWC 28mm Bolt Action Normandy 1944 Invasion
display game.Colin Jack provided all
the troops from his collection. Hugh Wilson provided the portable sandy beach,
the beach defences, the cliff and the lighthouse.Colin Jack and Ray Neal provided an
interesting display of WWII memorabilia while Campbell Hardie and Tim Watson
took the lead in playing thru the game.

SESWC - Anglo-Canadian invasion

Our display was judged 2nd best at the show.Other highlights of the show were the Old
Contemptibles really pretty Gleaming Katanas game which won best display, The
Iron Brigades ACW game and Kirriemuir Wargames club’s Macedonians versus
Tharians ancient game.The Border Reivers
put on their unusual Battle of Trafalagar Square Miners Strike game.

Kirriemuir's good looking ancient game

Old Contemptibles wonderful Gleaming Katanas game

Iron Brigade ACW game

The outstanding PP game for me was the Dam
Busters game put on by RAF Leuchars (Veterans).I really liked it.Another really
novel game from the team at leuchars.The
public get to play 3 of the crew of a Lancaster bomber complete with flying helmets.I plan to try this out at Kirriemuir or
Forfar.

Dambusters - Another crew get briefed for their sortie against the dams - the 10 minuters

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

On Monday I went to Falkirk and District Wargames Club.Dave Paterson, Dougie Kirby and I played a modified
version of the Ackia scenario from The Last Argument of Kings, the first Black Powder Supplement.This is a very different French Indian War scenario
as the French are fighting the Indians who also have defences.The game is set in 1736 when the governor of Louisiana led a punitive
expedition to attack the fortified Chickasaw Nation settlement of Ackia.

All the French and their Choctaw allies come from the FIW
collection of Angus Konstam while the Chickasaws were from my AWI collection.My thanks to Angus for loaning me his figures
whilst he is away in Orkney.

The French regulars

Orders of Battle

French CinCSR 8

French brigadier SR 7

Veteran infantry

Regular infantry

Militia infantry

Choctaw Leader SR 7

4 bands of Choctaw skirmishers

Chickasaw Forces

Chickasaw CinC SR 7

Chickasaw Leader SR 7

4 bands of Chickasaw skirmishers

Chickasaw Leader SR 7

4 bands of Chickasaw skirmishers

Terrain/Rules

We used the 66% scale version of the rules.The entire table was assumed to be forest. We used the following rules to deal with the issues
of forest fighting:

French infantry move
at half speed in the forest.The native
skirmishers move at full speed.

The French infantry gain no cover advantages in the forest –
they are still a clear target and get no extra saving modifier.

No unit gets a cover modifier from the forest in hand to
hand combat.

All units get cover modifiers for the ramparts.

Units on the French side cannot charge the ramparts from
beyond musket range.

French infantry close up on the Chickasaw defences

Deployment

As we don’t have a native village we assumed that the
Chickasaw village the objective of the French force was of table behind their
baseline. LAOK suggests using hidden
deployment for the Chickasaws.As an
alternative we used the following approach:

I deployed the 4 sets of outlying ramparts/earthworks on the
Chickasaw side of the table with a unit of skirmishers behind each.The
French then deployed their 2 brigades.The other 4 units of Chickasaw skirmishers were deployed in reserve
behind their baseline.

French regulars about to charge and take the forward rampart

How it Played

I commanded the Chickasaw defenders, Dave the French
infantry and Dougie the Choctaws.Initially
everything went well for the French.On
their left flank Dougie’s Choctaw units drove back my units helped by my
appalling dice rolling.Eventually all the
units in my right flank brigade fled the field.However I had inflicted enough casualties that Dougie’s Choctaws became
a broken brigade and they had to withdraw to recover.On the other flank the French infantry
advanced steadily and the regulars managed to storm the most forward
rampart.However a change in my luck
allowed my skirmisher fire to break the militia and shake the other 2 French
units which made them a broken brigade.As both the brigades in the French army were now broken they had to
retire from the field.A Chickasaw
victory – a historical result!More gaming this week - Thursday Vietnam War game , Saturday Carronade 2013 at Falkirk, Sunday Wartime Experience at Scottish National Museum of Flight. More info herehttp://www.falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk/Carronade%202014/Carronade_Home.htmlhttp://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum_of_flight/whats_on/wartime_experience.aspx

Sunday, May 4, 2014

It has been a busy week with games.On Monday I went to Falkirk and District Wargames
club and played a small Black Powder Napoleonic game with Dougie Kirby.We each had 2 infantry brigades and a cavalry
brigade.In 2 hours play I lost my 3
regiment cavalry brigade and my Swiss infantry brigade.It was a decisive British victory.

Dragoons beat the British heavies but then had to withdraw from the field as a broken brigade

Swiss emerging from the forest - broke not long after.....

On Thursday I was at the SESWC in Edinburgh where we gave
the new Osprey rules -A FISTFUL OF KUNG
FU – a first run through.We played a number of 2 player games.My Japanese Yakuza gang won the game against
Campbell’s Hong Kong police squad.Having read the rules after the game it was
obvious that we had missed a few rules.We will definitely try the rules again and I think the
activation/reaction system gives a good feel to the play.

My Yakuza gang...

The Hong Kong Police

On Saturday Colin Jack and Hugh Wilson came out to my place as
I staged a second game of my Craonne 1814 scenario.Colin commanded the Russians and Hugh the French.I supported Hugh playing the French left wing
and umpired.We played 14 moves during
the afternoon.The French were definitely
doing better when we ended than at the same point in the previous game.In fact the Russian Army was at the point
were it had to retire as half of its brigades were broken.We used the same scenario and OB as before
but this time the French had to decide in advance which entry points all their brigades
were using.

First French attacks go in.....

The highlight turn of the game was when Colin’s 2 hussar regiments
managed to charge 2 French infantry units on their flank.The French could not react and fought at a
disadvantage.Amazingly the Soumy hussars with 6 attacks
needing 3s to hit managed to roll six 1s
and 2s and bounced of their Line infantry target.However the Pavlogard Hussars beat the Old
Guard Grenadiers who failed their break test – being stoic they could reroll –
but got the same result again and fled the field…….